Working With the Probation Department: A Public Defender Perspective (From Working With Young Women in the Juvenile Justice System, P 33-45, 1987 -- See NCJ-109539)

• NCJ Number: 109545
• Author(s): L Grossman
• Date Published: 1987
• Length: 13 pages
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/; NCJRS Photocopy Services
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: For microfiche, see NCJ-109539.

Annotation

This paper reviews the role of the probation officer in the California juvenile justice system, guides public defenders in preparing to defend female juveniles, and suggests some alternative dispositions for female juveniles.

Abstract

In most juvenile cases, the probation officer decides whether a juvenile complaint is filed, makes detention recommendations, recommends a disposition based on a social study of the client, decides whether to charge a juvenile with a probation violation, and prepares recommendations regarding whether a juvenile should be processed in the juvenile justice system or be treated as an adult. Defense preparation includes ascertaining the client's background and needs; confronting mindsets of probation officers, judges, and district attorneys; working with parents; guiding client and parent interaction with the probation officers, and determining the admissibility of client statements to the probation officer. The defense counsel should try to keep female clients from becoming involved in the juvenile justice system because the system is ill-prepared to help females. Alternatives to system involvement include guardianship proceedings, compliance with emancipation requirements, informal probation, and the use of special education services and placements. Defense counsel should make sure that if the client is processed by the juvenile court, the female client is not improperly labeled delinquent.